


Come with Me if You Want to Live

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Get Out of the Fridge [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 06:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8133242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: As Order 66 is live, a former Padawan is following her heart (and Visions) to rescue a Senator that is in danger. The consequences that unfold may profoundly change the Galaxy.





	

Padmé hadn't even drawn herself fully together when the door chimed She thought about having Threepio send whomever it was away, but it might be news, news she needed desperately. She went to the door and had to gasp as she found Ahsoka Tano there, wearing pieces of ill-fitting armor, and looking decidedly injured.

She counted three blaster scorches, one of which had creased her lekku on her dominant side. Worse, the mark on her other shoulder was most certainly a lightsaber burn.

"Padmé," she breathed, her eyes lit with an unusual light, and Padmé realized her voice had an unusual timbre to it.

"Ahsoka?" When she'd last heard of the former Jedi Padawan, she'd been recruited to lead an insurgency on Mandalore.

"We don't have much time. You saw the Temple?"

"It's burning," she choked out in reply to that hard question.

"He's been here, hasn't he?" Ahsoka tensed further just waiting for the answer. Padmé had a small suspicion Ahsoka knew it, but was trying to judge her response.

"He left a bit ago, saying he was going to go end the war, that it would be okay," Padmé answered. Would that settle the young woman? "What's going on?"

Ahsoka drew in a breath, hard and full of pain. "The Chancellor is the Sith Lord, Padmé. Anakin… Anakin isn't himself." She glanced at her shoulder. "He did that, when I delayed him at the Temple, to give the last ship time to lift. At that, I think I heard at least one of the evac ships get shot down."

"WHAT?!"

Ahsoka flinched, then slumped down, as that light in her eyes faded some. "Senator, I am telling you you are in danger. If you are not hidden by the time Anakin gets back, I have no idea what is going to happen, but … it's going to be horrible."

"I can't believe that. I can't believe Anakin would hurt you or attack the Jedi. It's all he ever wished to be." Padmé could not wrap her mind around any of this. How had all this happened?

"And I am telling you he did. I am telling you that Anakin Skywalker is firmly in the thrall of the Sith, and if you don't listen to me, it's going to be your name, the name of your unborn child that I sing soon in my remembrance! I already saw the Guard heading into the Senatorial apartments, probably to arrest the ones who have been opposing the Chancellor. Please! Come with me!"

As much as she did not want to believe the girl, Padmé knew that Anakin had not been acting quite right ever since he came back from the fight with Dooku. There was something desperate in Ahsoka, and the Temple was burning. She had seen the smoke rise.

"How will we get away?"

"Come with me. Wear a cloak, but not a brown one. Put one on Threepio too."

It didn't take long, but by the time Ahsoka was leading her out and away, Padmé could hear the searching of armored people. She kept her blaster close, and followed the slim fighter, trusting her, all the way to a military transport. Once aboard it, she saw Ahsoka stumble, and reached to steady her, noticing now that there were other scorches along her back, one touching the central headtail. 

"You're so injured."

"Some of it is from fighting off the men," Ahsoka answered. "Fortunately, Rex got to me fast enough to keep that from being a slaughter, either way. I'm hoping that I can save them."

"Your men attacked you?! I had heard you were given a command, but…"

"It's not their fault!" Ahsoka snarled, before taking a breath. "Strap in, milady. It might get bumpy." She forced her way to the cockpit, while Padmé did as told.

It was shortly apparent why she had been warned to strap in, as Ahsoka piloted them to a chance of safety, evading the pursuit that came after them, even though a few shots did land. Padmé had heard Anakin call Ahsoka's piloting skills 'not bad', but in those awful minutes before they got clear and into hyperspace, Padmé wondered if her husband had slighted the girl's skills.

With the hyperspace feeling all around her, she unstrapped and went forward, going to the cockpit. There, she found Ahsoka wasn't alone, as a clone was with her, wearing the familiar blue markings of the 501st. As he turned to see her, Padmé recognized Rex and felt both relief and fear that Ahsoka was entirely correct, because that man would never turn against Anakin.

"Lady Amidala," Rex greeted, before turning back to making certain the ship was stable in the jump Ahsoka had plotted. "Can you take the Commander back and treat her injuries?" He had spent his time on the way in to Coruscant and then waiting for Ahsoka to make sure his own injuries were properly treated, but she had been pilot on the way back and rushed off as soon as they landed. It was a miracle he'd gotten the Mandalorian injuries at least cleaned and bandaged on her.

"Quit nursemaiding me," Ahsoka growled, her voice rough with pain.

"Stop and listen to yourself; you warned me this might happen!"

"I have to know where he is!"

Padmé looked from one to the other. "Who?"

Rex hesitated, but Ahsoka's almost feral grimace made him answer, so the woman understood. "Skywalker. She's using the training bond… and his mindset is dangerous to her own control."

Padmé drew in a sharp breath. "Ahsoka, stop it!"

"If I let go and try to touch it later, he's more likely to feel the intrusion!" she answered. "I can do this!"

Rex shook his head. "Commander, I can't keep you from following him into the madness. You haven't slept in nearly fifty hours; the stims will wear off, and I'm fairly certain your last meal was before your last sleep! We'll dodge the general the old-fashioned way!"

Padmé opened her mouth to reinforce that… and saw she didn't need to as Ahsoka crumpled somewhat, sagging hard into the support of the straps and her armor.

"You win. But I don't like it." 

He reached over to unbuckle her, helping her out of the seat. Then Padmé moved to get her back to the aid station in the transport, worried when Ahsoka leaned heavily on her to walk the small distance.

"I'm sorry," Ahsoka whispered as she sat on the seat, unbuckling the badly matched armor to get it off.

Padmé began to tell her not to apologize… and then had to suck in a breath at seeing the swath of bandages under the armor. The reek of sweat, blood, and bacta was strong as the armor hit the decking, and Padmé reevaluated her course of action.

"Did you come straight from combat to Coruscant?" she asked, trying to help Ahsoka focus and stay conscious.

"Yeah. We'd gotten in this morning, so the 332nd could fold back into the 501st. I was having repeated visions of danger to the younglings, and went straight for the Temple. Surprisingly, they listened to me, started the evac right away. That's when I was told that Skyguy had delivered news to the Temple that took all the senior Masters out.

"He wasn't there, not right then, but a really strong blast of his fear and anger hit me… and then he just, he just didn't feel right in my head anymore." Ahsoka was fighting not to scream or bawl or lapse into silence. "Rex found me loading the last ship up, told me I needed to go with the younglings, and that's when I knew my vision was happening. I went to the main causeway, with Rex… and _he_ was leading our men up to the Temple."

Padmé's hands fumbled even as she was trying to get old bandages off so she could tend all the injuries. Anakin, leading a force, his men, against the Temple? She felt like she wasn't getting enough air. The baby was restless, moving in agitation, as she struggled to focus on treating the wounds.

Ahsoka, distracted by the motion of Padmé's stomach behind her gown, reached a hand up and laid it on the woman without thinking, without asking for permission. "Shh, little ones, shh," she said soothingly, sparing what little energy she had to calm them.

"What… what did you do?" Padmé asked, even as the motion that made it hard to breathe, made her need to find a 'fresher, came to a gentle stop. "Little ones?"

"I calmed them," Ahsoka told her, looking up at the woman's face. "They're very loud. Almost one voice, but I can hear two hearts."

"I didn't know. I asked the med-droid just to monitor, not tell me what I was having. Xie must have taken that to mean not telling me there were twins," Padmé said. She then focused on the task at hand, rather than dwell on the fact she wanted to tell Ani. 

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. I… Anakin has been so twisted up since he got back and I could tell him. He kept having nightmares."

Ahsoka sucked in a breath. "Nightmares? Probably visions!" 

"Maybe? Dreaming of me dying, of the baby dying, and… it's horrible, how broken he would get." Padmé frowned. "Do you think--"

"Yes, I do. I think he's being manipulated, and I hope like kriff that the Visions he had are false ones." Ahsoka shifted as Padmé reached for her central lek. "Careful, milady. They twitch fiercely when they hurt. Use the numbing spray first."

"Of course… I should have remembered that. Ani said treating lekku injuries are a challenge for medic and patient."

Ahsoka actually half-smiled, at that, at her master speaking of her to his lady, at the nickname. "I usually only get the tips scorched here and there. General Secura -- " She had to stop, as she realized she was probably speaking of someone dead, as Aayla had normally kept Commander Bly close to her side.

All those deaths so close together pressed in all over again, and she felt absolutely sick to her stomach, despite the fact she had nothing to bring up.

She made herself continue. Those walking far away deserved to be remembered for their good. "She suggested I adapt the bands Twi'leks use, but I could never get comfortable with them."

Padmé nodded. "When we get through this, Ahsoka, maybe we should discuss it with my clothier. They might be able to find a solution for you."

She projected confidence that they would get through this, and Ahsoka took heart from that. 

"Until then, Padmé, I am fully committed to keeping you and the babies safe. Rex too; he won't let anything happen to us that he can help."


End file.
